Obama Rushed Through $85 BIL In New Regulations This Year

May 17 is “regulation day.” Any new regulations passed from this day forward can be reversed by the next Congress and President.

A newly released report from the American Action Forum reveals that Obama has been busy rushing through a huge number of costly regulations before the deadline, so they cannot be blocked or reversed by the next Congress or President.

So far, in 2016, the Obama administration has proposed or finalized regulations with more than $85 billion in total costs, which will add 44 million paperwork burden hours.

Below are a few of the expensive regulations published just during the last month:

Diligence for Financial Institutions: $2.5 billion

Regulation of Smokeless Tobacco: $1.1 billion

Transportation of Human and Animal Food: $998 million

Blowout Preventer Systems: $890 million

“Medicaid Mega Rule:” $471 million

The AAF says “these regulatory costs essentially represent unchecked power for the president. Absent an intervention from the federal courts or a surprising super-majority in Congress, these rules will likely persist indefinitely.”

As of this writing, there are 35 “economically significant” (impact on the economy of $100 million or more) rulemakings that have not yet been officially published. These include revised food labeling standards, the 2017 renewable fuels standard, final fracking standards from the EPA, and final overtime rules for professionals. Combined, the three final rules could impose $4.4 billion in additional economic burdens, and more than 2.5 million paperwork burden hours. This is to say nothing of the other 32 rules under review, or the dozens of significant measures that will be approved before President Obama leaves office.